


Pearls

by butterflydreaming (chrysalisdreams)



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 06:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrysalisdreams/pseuds/butterflydreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love, one layer upon the other, growing like a pearl. (Far future.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pearls

-Pearls-

_Love, one layer upon the other, growing like a pearl._

Snip. Snip-snip. Snip.

The scissors cut holes into the folded white paper, two pair of scissors creating two lacey doilies. Sakura unfolded her snowflake first and held it up for inspection. A puzzled frown creased her cherubic young face. “Hoee…” she sighed, “it still looks like a circle of paper, now with some holes in it.”

Tomoyo’s scissors continued to whisper. “I think it’s very pretty,” said the little girl. She sat primly on the living room sofa with her feet neatly together, her elementary school uniform still looking pressed after a full day of wear, and her long, dark hair smooth as satin under a simple ribbon. In contrast to Sakura, she had contained all of the paper cut-outs in the lap of her skirt; not a single scrap of confetti had escaped her careful attention.

Sakura dropped her heavy paper snowflake; it fell to the floor without grace. She picked it up again, and perched the slightly-peaked-at-the-center circle on top of her head. “It makes a better hat,” she giggled, and Tomoyo smiled. Playfully, she plucked the “hat” off of her head and draped it onto Tomoyo’s.

Tomoyo placed her scissors onto the coffee table. She gently unfolded her own paper snowflake. Her delicate, tiny cuts had created a softness to the paper, and when she placed it onto Sakura’s head, it draped like a piece of actual lace.

“Now we match!” laughed Sakura. She spun around in place so that her skirt flared out, and when her doily hat fell off, she picked it up and put it back on top of her messy hair.

 

_ _ _

“Do I have something on my face?” Sakura asked with a small laugh.

The hair that was more grey than auburn, like the thin and wrinkled skin, was an illusion, Tomoyo knew, but the frail bones of Sakura’s hand, resting in Tomoyo’s light grip, felt as believably aged as her own. The other patrons in the busy, noisy café paid no attention to two old ladies having tea together, so she and Sakura had a little glow of peace surrounding their table. Tomoyo’s hearing was as sharp as it had ever been, but it was nice not to have to speak loudly. “Was I staring?” asked Tomoyo.

“Yes, but just a little,” answered Sakura. “Do you thing the registrar will be confused that we already have the same last name?”

“I hope not,” replied Tomoyo. “I want to make an honest woman out of you, after all,” she joked. “Even if you are too stubborn to wear a pretty dress today.”

Sakura gave Tomoyo’s hand a squeeze. “I’m wearing your pearls,” she reminded her dearest friend. Sakura touched her free hand to the short strand at her throat. “And I’ll be wearing your ring.”

Tomoyo blamed the moisture in her eyes on the strength of the sunlight coming in through the window. “And I’ll be wearing yours,” she answered.

_ _ _

A snort stopped Sakura’s giggling pirouettes. Touya, Sakura’s teenaged older brother, stood in the doorway as if he had been watching for a while. “What are you doing, Monster?” he asked.

Sakura fumed. “I’M NOT A—” she stopped, remembering her guest. “We’re playing,” she said, heavily, her tone saying that it should be obvious even to a dumb older brother.

“We’re playing ‘Bride’,” said Tomoyo, shocking herself by speaking up. The boy’s dark blue eyes paused on her for a moment before he shrugged and started to walk away.

“Where are you going, Oniichan?” called Sakura after.

The teenager’s answer was curt and elusive. “Out,” he said.

_ _ _

When the cheque came, Tomoyo intercepted it and paid, signing the touchpad with the name she had worn for most of her life: Tomoyo Kinomoto. Even after she had lost Touya, she had held on to the name; it was more her own than Daidouji had ever been, and held more meaning to her.

Love is never simple.

One layer doesn’t disappear under another; it is only hidden.

_ _ _

“I like you,” said Sakura.

“I like you,” answered Tomoyo.

“Will you be my best friend?” The little girl tipped her head to one side, and the paper veil began to slip again off of her auburn hair. She locked little fingers with her dark-haired classmate.

Tomoyo smiled at their entwined pinkies. “I will be with you forever,” she promised.

_ _ _

The automated server rolled by and collected the touchpad. A second robot followed, and it collected the empty teacups and plates.

“It’s almost time,” Tomoyo noted, rising slowly. Surgery had replaced all the damaged bones after the accident, and some days, she felt the awareness that most of her skeleton was not natural bone. She touched the button on her wrist bracelet that signaled the car. It would be waiting, hovering in the pick up zone in front of the bistro, by the time that she and Sakura reached the door.

“Let’s go,” agreed Sakura. She offered her hand and her assistance. There was a loving smile on her face, and the light of undiminished youth in her eyes.

_ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Tomoyo/Sakura  
> Science Future Challenge  
> 870 Words


End file.
